[Scharfschuetzer]

Welcome to the reloading obsession Bpeezer. I've never found reloading to save me any money ... I just get to shoot a whole lot more for the same dollar by reloading.

Believe it or not, I started out using the Lee Loader when in Jr. High. I now use the Lee press with a decapping die to deprime all of my fired cases in order to keep all the hard carbon residue out of my primary press. It should provide you with workman like performance with the 30/06.

Any time you can shoot MOA with a hunting rifle, you are spot on.

As previously posted above, the 1 in 10 twist rate (about standard for 30/06s) is versitile in the extreme. The 1903 Springfield originally used the 220 grain FMJ roundnose projectile of the previous 30/40 Krag rifle. The Ordnance Dpt stayed with the 1-10 twist rate that worked with the 220 grain bullet even after they adopted the 30/06 cartridge with a lighter spitzer bullet in 1906. It has remained the go to twist rate for the 30/06 ever since.

I've had the best long range accuracy in the 30/06 with the 190 grain Sierra MK, but the 168 and the 175 are also very good choices. For hunting with the Ought 6 I've always liked the 165 grain spitzers by Hornady, but that's just me.

The 30/06 is versitile with powders but seems to perform best with medium burning rate powders. I've burned a lot of IMR 4895, 4064 and also H 414 over the years in my Ought 6 using standard primers from CCI and Remington. With the heavier bullets, you might also try one of the 4350 powders. They (AA-Hogdon-IMR) are a bit slower buring than the previously noted powders.

As for cases, any of the better brands will do good work for you. Just try to keep your loads segregated by case brand and lot if possible. I use mostly GI Lake City brass for all of my Ought 6 loading with good results. They do take a few extra prep steps like swaging the primer pocket crimp out before reloading. Cases also need to be trimmed to length now and then with a trimming tool, both GI and commercial.

Overal length can be important for accuracy. With the long match bullets, it is tempting to seat them way out, but they should not crowd the rifling as that can cause spikes in pressure. If you can, seating the bullets just shy of the rifling can often increase accuracy. For hunting where you may need repeat or follow up shots in your 770, the magazine will usually determine your maximum length.

With any change in compenents, work back up to your maximum loads. Keep a record of those changes as you will often find a sweet spot that shoots balls of fire for you. I use a chrongraph when doing so and I keep graphs that chart the ammount of powder, velocity, standard deviations and accuracy of my loads. The powder-velocity graph is very illuminating and you will quickly see when you've reached the best charge-velocity load for any given bullet or powder. When that graph coincides with your best accuracy and low standard deviation, you've reached nirvana.

Do buy a good reloading manual! It will cover everying thing that all of us have posted as well as giving you good data on powders, bullets and primers for getting your 770 into that magic 1 MOA group.